Best protest songs: No. 1, “Strange Fruit” – Billie Holiday

In honor of this election year, I am looking back at the 25 greatest protest songs of all time. Iâ€™m starting with No. 25 and working my way up. Note: Each artist was only eligible to have one song make the list. To read past entries on this list, click here.

1, â€œStrange Fruit,â€ Billie Holiday (1939)
A work of awe-inspiring beauty and absolute horror, â€œStrange Fruitâ€ stands as the greatest political/protest song of all time. Itâ€™s was written by Abel Meeropol, a high-school instructor in the Bronx, about the 1930 lynching of two black men in Indiana. The true greatness of the song, ranking even beyond Holidayâ€™s exquisite delivery, is the contrasting imagery between the pastoral setting (â€œScent of magnolias, sweet and freshâ€) and the act of violence (â€œThen the sudden smell of burning fleshâ€).Video: